1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the acceleration of wind and solar evaporation of waste water and weak chemical solutions, and more specifically, to the acceleration of solar and wind evaporation of water and weak solutions in ponds and tanks by the use of an
evaporative material with a relatively high surface area allowing the water and weak solutions to migrate into the material and be exposed to the sun and air for accelerated evaporation.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Wastewaters and weak chemical solutions, generally defined herein as wastewater, are problematic when used in industrial operations as the wastewater must be disposed of without harming the environment. Wastewater typically includes solids dissolved or suspended therein and they must be recovered in an environmentally safe manner. Wastewater is typically held in ponds where the solids are concentrated by open-air evaporation. This process of evaporation is slow and often unsuitable for industrial processes. Suspended solids which settle to the bottom of the pond are periodically removed. Suspended solids can be removed by filtration. Conventional methods of increasing the evaporation from ponds include the use of spray nozzles to force pond wastewater into the air as a spray. However, spraying is environmentally unsafe for the spray, containing dissolved contaminants, can be blown by the wind beyond the pond where the drops of spray can percolate into a water table below ground. Accordingly, an increase in the rate of solar and wind evaporation assists in the processing of wastewater by decreasing the volume of wastewater and increasing the recovery of solids.